So I ran across this today, and I know I can't be the first one to see it. Apparently Amazon is offering unlimited reads out of some 600,000 titles plus audiobooks, for only 9.99 a month. It sounds like a really good deal, but I wanted to hear if anyone out there has any opinions on this one way or the other

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review: Midnight Everlasting by S.M Stelmack2014-07-16T22:03:00+01:002014-07-16T22:03:00+01:00http://Alan.booklikes.com/post/930866/midnight-everlasting-by-s-m-stelmackAlanhttp://Alan.booklikes.com
I was contacted by the author to see if I was interested in getting a free copy of this book in exchange for a review. I jumped at the chance as I was really pleased at how much I liked the first book in this series. And the second installment did not disappoint.

This book is set in Great Britain, it follows a completely different set of lead characters. The main female is Zephanie Sweetly, her and her family live underground in the Midnight, they work as caretakers keeping the Midnight safe for the people who aren't always accepted up top. Until one day her family is attacked, family members and clients are killed, while one client is kidnapped. After narrowly escaping the attack, Zephanie hires Thomas Coyle, a famous missing persons expert to find her client. Little does Coyle know Zephaine has an agenda all of her own. Together Zephanie and Coyle team up with some American's to find out what happened to her client, and why after all these years they're being targeted by the creatures that live in the Midnight.

I really enjoyed this book, more then the first one really. I liked the hero in this book better, I felt that Jack from the first book was a little on the whiny side. Both Jack and Tom had horrible things happen to them and were both well written, but I enjoyed Tom's character better then Jack's. Another nice thing about the characters in this book is how the author created all new lead's, while incorporating a few of the minor characters from the first book to make the connection between the two.

The romance was well done, in my opinion anyway. It wasn't overpowering, the author did a good job combining a good mix of soft tender moments and thrilling action scenes.

I felt that the world building was well done, even though it's a second book, the first one was set in NYC, and there were still a lot of differences between the Midnight of Great Britain and the Underground of NYC. I also liked how the author used a different name for the mole people. In Britain they are called Rawheads and in the United States they are called Moles. It makes sense that two different countries would use different terms, it made it feel more real. Speaking of feeling real, the dialogue was very well done too, using a lot of English slang and terminology.

On a whole this was an enjoyable read, I was more then happy to read and review this one. I'm glad that I was able to get my hands on this book and as it's the third book I've read by this husband and wife writing team, I would be happy to read any future books they write.

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text: [REBLOGGED] Kitty Jikji needs help...2014-07-15T17:33:00+01:002014-07-15T17:33:00+01:00http://Alan.booklikes.com/post/930242/reblogged-kitty-jikji-needs-helpAlanhttp://Alan.booklikes.com
Found this one on a friend's Journal and want to spread the word.

Chibitoaster's being a hero and rescuing a poor sweet injured kitty cat because that's what you do. But the baby needs surgery to have her hip pinned and leg amputated if she's going to have any sort of life and working overseas on a teacher's salary is hard to cover an emergency surgery like this.

If you can pitch in ten bucks, (or more) or even if you can't, please visit the gofundme page and signal boost the hell out of it to your social media sites. That will help a lot!

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text: Reading progress update: I've read 45%.2014-07-15T17:13:00+01:002014-07-15T17:13:00+01:00http://Alan.booklikes.com/post/930234/reading-progress-update-i-ve-read-45Alanhttp://Alan.booklikes.com
I was given this book in exchange for a review, and I'm happy to say that it's going pretty good so far. I thought the first one was pretty good, I think I like this one a little better so far. The hero in the first book seemed to be a little bit of a whiner, but the guy in this book is anything but.
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text: Reading progress update: I've read 65%.2014-07-02T15:54:00+01:002014-07-02T15:54:00+01:00http://Alan.booklikes.com/post/919912/reading-progress-update-i-ve-read-65Alanhttp://Alan.booklikes.com
Man I really hate it when life gets in the way of my reading. I really enjoy this one so far and would normally have had it done by now. Anyway good news I have next week off and will definitely get through this one, I can't wait!!
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text: Reading progress update: I've read 20%.2014-06-26T19:04:00+01:002014-06-26T19:04:00+01:00http://Alan.booklikes.com/post/915657/reading-progress-update-i-ve-read-20Alanhttp://Alan.booklikes.com
The writing is very good in this one, I've never read this author before, but I know he has a good reputation. Also I am really enjoying the flashbacks that tell the story of how he became a werewolf.
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text: Reading progress update: I've read 18%.2014-06-26T15:52:00+01:002014-06-26T15:52:00+01:00http://Alan.booklikes.com/post/915391/reading-progress-update-i-ve-read-18Alanhttp://Alan.booklikes.com
He smelled the coppery reek of blood, felt sickening heat wash across his face, and he looked around into the maw of the pale brown beast. Blood dripped from it's mouth. It stared into his eyes for maybe three terrible seconds, and Shedrin sobbed, "Please..."

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text: Reading progress update: I've read 4%.2014-06-24T01:39:00+01:002014-06-24T01:39:00+01:00http://Alan.booklikes.com/post/913331/reading-progress-update-i-ve-read-4Alanhttp://Alan.booklikes.com
Oh boy is right! I've been wanting to get to this one for awhile .

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review: Salvation by James Wymore2014-06-24T01:15:00+01:002014-06-24T01:15:00+01:00http://Alan.booklikes.com/post/913121/salvation-by-james-wymoreAlanhttp://Alan.booklikes.com

So I'm doing the review this way because I couldn't find the book available on Booklikes

Now about this book, I liked it, I really did or at least most of it. Let me give a little synopsis about the book before I start talking about it.

The book starts out with a married couple scavenging for metal on a frozen battlefield, when they come across a soldier that is still alive. They take him home and nurse him back to health. Once the soldier comes around he realizes he can't remember anything, so he stays with the couple and helps them with their little farm. One day they decide to go and visit the woman's family in the mountains, while staying with her family he looks down to the ocean and see's the creatures that had attacked him the first time preparing for another attack. Now he must take it upon himself to raise an army and protect these people who saved his life.

My only real problem was with the romance story line, if felt really rushed. When he comes to the village he meets the sister of the woman who saved his life, and it's love at first sight. I can dig love at first sight, but it was two days later and he was purposing to her! Then it was another 2 or 3 days and she was telling him she was pregnant, she said she used magic to be able to tell, ok I'll buy that, but coupled with everything else it just made that portion of the story unbelievable.

The love story aside I thought it was really well done, the world building was good and the characters were endearing. Although it lacked a little in the way of descriptiveness for the characters appearances, I don't know if the Hero was ever really fleshed out so that I had a clear picture of what he looked like. Maybe the author did it on purpose, to let us readers form our own image.

I really enjoyed the fish creatures that were attacking the humans, I thought it was a really good idea for the "bad guys". They are, at least to my knowledge, completely original. And I really liked the idea of creatures that terrorizes the very source of life for humans.

On a whole I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to any fantasy reader as long as they didn't expect too much from the romance story line.

Ok the romance in this book is starting to bother me more and more, let me set the story. A warrior is found half dead on a frozen battle field by a husband and wife scavenging for metal. They take him in and nurse him back to health, and he lives with them a few months. They go and visit the wife's family, she has a younger sister that she's trying to set him up with. He's there for one day before he decides she's the one for him. Then it takes him 2 more days and he's proposing to her. Then it's only a couple more days and she tells him she's pregnant! Ok she says she uses magic to find out about the baby, but still it feels a little forced